The Union power ministry has directed 112 captive coal-fired power plants to operate at maximum available capacity from October 1 through December 31, invoking emergency provisions of the Electricity Act as the country braces for an expected rise in electricity demand in the coming months.The order, dated September 25 and reported by Reuters, applies to coal-based captive generating stations with an installed capacity of at least 50 megawatts. Generators must offer surplus electricity — after meeting their own captive requirements — through power exchanges, and file weekly reports with the Central Electricity Authority covering generation, captive consumption, power sales, available capacity and coal stocks.
Who is covered
The plants primarily serve industrial facilities such as aluminium smelters, steel manufacturers, cement factories and oil refineries. The 112 units named in the order belong to companies including Vedanta, Tata Steel, Hindalco Industries, JSW Steel, UltraTech Cement, Reliance Industries, Indian Oil, Bharat Aluminium, Hindustan Zinc and Nayara Energy.
Why the emergency move
Nearly 40 per cent of India's coal-fired power plants are operating with critically low fuel stocks, as a surge in power consumption coincides with hotter-than-usual temperatures linked to the El Niño climate phenomenon. Peak power demand touched 269 gigawatts on September 10 — the highest ever recorded in that month — just shy of the year's 270 GW peak logged during the May summer, the Indian Express reported.
The direction was issued under Section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003, which allows the government to mandate how generators operate their plants in extraordinary circumstances. Separately, the ministry extended an earlier emergency order requiring Tata Power's imported-coal-fired plant at Mundra in Gujarat to run at full capacity until December 31.
The ministry said the measures are aimed at utilising "the entire capacity of all the sources of generating electricity, including the captive generating plants, to the maximum possible" as demand is expected to climb through the year-end months.
Sources:
Reuters via Moneycontrol: India orders 112 captive coal plants to run at full capacity from October 1
Indian Express: Centre invokes emergency power mechanism for captive plants